Do Hybrids Last? Consumer Reports Say Long-Term Customers are Happy

Two months after the Lexus RX400h hits showrooms, expected in April, a hybrid version of the Highlander SUV, which already

Toyota/Lexus is expecting to sell over 100,000 hybrid vehicles per year. (Photo: Lexus)

shares its general architecture and various drivetrains with the conventionally-powered Lexus RX 330, will become available. The automaker expects the two sport utility vehicles and its popular Prius will push Toyota/Lexus HEV sales beyond the 100,000 unit per year mark.

General Motors recently entered the hybrid race with mild-hybrid versions of its full-sized Chevy and GMC pickup trucks, the Silverado and Sierra. Honda is the only other purveyor of mild-hybrid systems. Most likely this technology will give way to a new full-hybrid system, similar to that used by Toyota and Ford,

With nearly every automaker planning to join the hybrid market in the near future, it should mean lower prices for consumers. (Photo: Lexus)

when a proprietary system is developed via a new joint-venture between GM and rival DaimlerChrysler.

Ford is readying four new hybrid vehicles to be launched within the next three years, the first of which is a derivative of its new Escape Hybrid, the Mercury Mariner Hybrid. A hybrid version of its upcoming Taurus replacement, the Fusion, is expected to be among the remaining three new entries.

In the near future expect hybrids from Nissan, Mazda, Subaru, Hyundai and Kia, among others. The competition will become much greater, and with that competition prices should drop making hybrid technology available to a greater number of new car buyers.